Primary Sports Event

Congratulations to Doon Academy’s sports ambassadors, Dillan Dunn, Melissa Carroll, Stacey Chalmers and Nathan Gilmore who ran their first primary sports event last week at the academy for over 60 primary aged pupils and it was a great success!!

In conjunction with Active Schools the young ambassadors have been helping their Active Schools Coordinator, Nicola McCormack run a number of events to help promote the Olympics for next year, and they kick started it by running a basketball festival for all 6 primary schools in the partnership.

At the sporting festival, each of the six primary schools competing represented the country it had been allocated in the lead-up to the Olympics: Bellsbank – Turkey, Dalmellington – Spain, Dalrymple – Georgia, Littlemill – Slovenia, Patna – Indonesia and St Xaviers – Argentina.

Nicola McCormack, Active Schools coordinator said “Festivals like this are great to help promote the Olympic values of Respect, Excellence and Friendship. The young ambassadors have been absolutely great in the lead up to this festival; I couldn’t have done it without them”.

CD on sale

The Young Musician of the Year 2011 CD is now on sale from the school office. The cost is £7 for one or 3 for £20. This wonderful CD will make an ideal Christmas present for all music lovers.

Police visit Crash Test

On Wednesday 9th of November Constable Denholm and former Doon Academy pupil Sergeant White visited the crash scene investigation masterclass. During the visit Constable Denholm explained the procedures used to investigate crash scenes as well as helping the pupils investigate the motion of vehicles before collisions. The pupils then got the chance to measure the speed of vehicles outside the school using the Police radar gun.

Luckily for the motorists there was no speeding!

Parents' Evening

The S4-6 Parents Evening on Wednesday 16th November provided parents with a great opportunity to discuss pupils’ progress with their teachers. This is a crucial stage for our students so it was great to meet so many parents.

Art Exhibition

Doon Academy’s annual art exhibition will have its grand opening on Thursday 1st December 6pm to 7.30pm and will run until the end of December. At the opening, refreshments will be provided and there will be arts and crafts on sale. All are welcome to attend.

Children in Need Talent Show

Pupils and staff pulled out all the stops to raise the magnificent sum of £827.85 for Children In Need. There was a non-uniform day, talent show, face painting and bake sale. Well done to S6 boys Kieran Boyle, Callum Stevenson and Steven Slider who had their chest and legs waxed and Gavin McFadzean who had his hair shorn. Well done to everyone who took part in fundraising for such a worthy cause.

Fire Safety

Community Firefighter Liaison Officer Carol Cairns visited the school to speak to S1 about the safety of fire service officers when they attend fires in the community.

New Depute Head

Doon Academy’s staff and pupils wish a warm welcome to our new Depute Head Teacher Mrs Elaine Hetherington. We wish her every success in her post. The year remits for the Senior Management Team have now changed with Mrs. McRoberts responsible for years S1, 3, 5, Mrs Hetherington years S2, S4 and Mr. MacKenzie year S6.

Visiting minister

On Friday 25th November we welcomed to the school Mr. Ian Jamieson from the local church to lead our S2 assembly.

Youth Magazine

Tracey Baird and Mike Mills from the Ark Youth Project visited the school and met with Mr. MacKenzie and Mrs Murray PT of English to discuss pupil contributions to a new youth magazine project. Pupils and staff are looking forward to working with the Ark whose alcohol free nightclub is a popular venue for young people.

Mrs Stewart steps down

Head teacher Mr. MacKenzie, on behalf of pupils, staff and parents, thanked Mrs Stewart for her hard work and dedication as acting DHT and Mr Power for holding the fort as acting PT in Business Education and ICT.

Adam Ingram visit

Head teacher John Mackenzie was delighted to welcome to the school, on Friday 11th November, Adam Ingram MSP for Cumnock and Doon Valley. Mr Ingram met with the head; depute heads and school captains to discuss our future improvement plans. He then had a tour of the school, and the Supported Learning Centre, during which he met other staff and pupils. Mr Ingram then attended our senior Remembrance Day assembly which was led by teacher Mr. Paul Ellis who has also served as a reserve in Iraq and Afghanistan. BBC School News Reporters were thrilled that Mr. Ingram took time out to be interviewed for the BBC. The reporters asked him many interesting questions and their full report with be broadcast on School News Day.

Switch-Off Fortnight

Doon Academy pupils and staff are participating in Switch Off Fortnight and the Eco Group are organising a number of events. The aim is to improve the school's energy use and to get the whole school interested in cutting carbon. Senior pupils will be conducting an audit at the start of the fortnight to see how many lights are left on at intervals and lunchtimes. We will then run a campaign over the fortnight to encourage people to save energy. This will be done mainly through the mentoring period. Lesson plans and materials will be distributed over the next week. At the end of the fortnight a second audit will be completed to see if the campaign has been successful. Hopefully, we can help to reduce the school's energy bills and carbon dioxide emissions. Further details may be obtained by visiting the website www.jointhepod.org/switchoff

New janitor

We wish a warm welcome to the school to Mr Stephen Devaney our new Head Janitor. We wish him every success in his post.

The school staff and pupils bid a fond farewell to relief janitor Mr Dave Millar. During his time at Doon Dave was popular with everyone because of his friendly manner and helpfulness. He also shared his excellent sense of humour with everyone he met. We wish him good luck in his next posting.

Pizza and Cupcake eveneing

The Art Department held a pizza and cupcake evening for 14 S5 Art and Design pupils. This allowed the pupils to have 3 hours of interrupted work on their design portfolios. The evening was very enjoyable for art staff and pupils and everyone is looking forward to another event in December.

Business Leaders and Young People Seminar

10 senior Business Management pupils, accompanied by Miss Borthwick and Mrs McRoberts, attended the East Ayrshire Business Leaders and Young people's seminar at St Joseph's Academy Kilmarnock. During the day pupils listened to talks from Sir Tom Hunter, of The Hunter Foundation, and Dr Peter Hughes from Scottish Engineering. Both delivered inspirational and informative presentations. The pupils also marketed and launched a product during their two workshops.

Auschwitz visit

Two of our senior pupils, Lisa Chalmers and Lauren Mitchell, visited the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. The girls are Higher Modern Studies students and the visit was organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust. Lauren and Lisa attended a preparatory meeting in Glasgow during which they met a survivor of the death camp. The girls were shocked and saddened by their visit and they will share this emotional experience with other pupils at special assemblies.

Felt Artist

Renowned felt artist Ewa Kuniczak is working with Mrs Gillespie and Ms Fuller’s masterclass making felt wrist bands to be sold in The Miner’s Lamp school shop

Art and Design Exhibition

The annual Art and Design Exhibition will open on Thursday 1st December at the Doon Valley Museum 6pm to 7.30pm. All are welcome to attend where there will be refreshments provided and arts and crafts on sale.

Astronomer Royal visit

Pupils and staff were delighted to receive a visit from Professor John C Brown, 10th Astronomer Royal for Scotland. He gave two presentations, one to Dalmellington Primary School and one to Doon Academy pupils.

The presentation to the primary pupils was on "Abra cad Astra - The Magic of the Cosmos". Professor Brown talked about planets, stars and the sun and illustrated his talk with some wonderful magic tricks. He demonstrated reduced gravity with magnets, Jupiter’s moons with a magic ring trick and black holes by making a fifty pence piece disappear through some rubber and reappear on the other side! In addition, Professor Brown explained how he did some of the tricks, but some remained a mystery to the enthralled audience.

His talk to the Doon Academy Astronomy group was similar but with more science and different tricks. Both groups were hooked by Prof Brown’s magic colouring book at the start of the show. After the talk, Professor Brown had a chat with the Astronomy group and promised to return next year when the Dalmellington Observatory is up and running.

Sci-Fun Roadshow

The Sci-Fun roadshow, in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh, visited the school to present a day of activities for P7s from Dalmellington Primary and S1 pupils from Doon Academy. This was a reward for pupils’ effort and good behaviour in their science classes. The roadshow included presentations on our senses and global warming and there were many hands-on experiments for the pupils to try. Everyone really enjoyed the experience and pupils were a credit to the school.

DofE newsletter published

The school’s Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award group have produced the first issue of ‘Blab’, their magazine style newsletter. The newsletter had a Halloween theme and included features and articles by Heather Dunn (Chief Editor and music correspondent), Rosie Coles (special features), Ainsley Limond (Agony Aunt), Kirsty McCormick (Charity Editor), Kayleigh Boyd (Horoscopes), Alexander McDowall (Sports Editor) and Damian Slocombe (ICT correspondent). The group are looking forward to further improving their journalism skills with 2 more issue due out before Christmas.

Reader of the Month

Congratulations to Kayley Hancox who has been selected as Reader of the Month in Accelerated Reading.

S4 - S6 Parents Evening

Doon Academy parents evening for S4 - S6 pupils is being held on Wednesday 16th November 5.00pm to 7.30pm. Pupils have been issued with appointment slips and are booking appointment times with teachers. We value the support of our parents and we hope that all will be able to make an appointment for the evening.

New PE teacher

Pupils and staff bid a warm welcome to teacher Seth Meechan who has joined the PE department on a part-time basis.

Reading Week

Doon Academy held another very successful reading week. Pupils from S1 to S3 together with their teachers read for enjoyment for 20 minutes at the beginning of each day.

Focus West visit

The Director of the FOCUS West project Dr. Bernadette Sanderson visited Doon Academy for a tour and an update on how the project activities were progressing in the school.

Science Literacy Wall

Congratulations to Sophie Paulin, Brooke Paulin, Jade McClymont, Melanie Connell, Frazer Buchanan and Heather Dunn on their science work being selected for this month’s Literacy Wall.

Young Musician CD out soon

The Young Musician of the Year 2011 double album CD will be released on Monday 28th November and can be purchased for £7 or 3 for £20. Please contact the school office 01292 550521 to pre-order your copy. The CD will make an excellent Christmas present for anyone who loves music.

Beauty and the Beast trip

The Dazzle cast and crew will be visiting the King’s Theatre in Glasgow to see a performance of Beauty and the Beast in preparation for Doon Academy’s pantomime which will be performed on the evenings of Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th December.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland visit

Senior pupils Leanne Waugh, Stacey Chalmers, Paige Collins, Megan McCleary and Lisa McTaggart will be attending a Dance and Drama Day at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as part of the FOCUS West project.

Paris trip

Mrs McKenzie, Mrs Ferrie and 8 senior girls will be visiting Paris for 3 days at the end of November. Pupils will see the Christmas lights on the Champs Elysees, visit the Eiffel Tower and other attractions; taste French food as well as speaking lots of French.

Report on Poland trip

S3 pupils were given a very interesting and informative presentation at an assembly by the group of pupils who attended a Comenius visit to Poland.  Halle Fitzsimmons, John Anderson and Alexander Nutt made a video of their activities during the visit which they presented to their year group.  The pupils also spoke about their stay in Poland and the activities they completed together with our Comenius school partners from Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Greece. The trio were presented with certificates, given by the British Council, to mark their visit.  The pupils were accompanied on the visit by Mrs Stewart and Mr Ellis

Christmas Fayre winner

 Congratulations to S1 pupil Fallan Smith who was Doon Academy's winner of the Dalmellington Community Council Christmas Fayre poster competition. Fallan received a certificate and a £10 gift voucher.

Senior Parents evening

Doon Academy parents evening for S4 - S6 pupils is being held on Wednesday 16th November 5.00pm to 7.30pm. Pupils will be issued with appointment slips one week before the date. We value the support of our parents and we hope that all will be able to make an appointment for the evening.

Halloween Disco

The Halloween Disco was a raving success with pupils and staff dressed in an eclectic range of outfits from a bumble bee to a Smurf. Well done to the 6^th year prefects and school captains for arranging the event.

Cars 2

All S1 pupils visited the Odeon Cinema in Ayr to see Cars 2 as part of the Film Education week. The film reinforces the themes of friendship and belonging which have been the focus of their PSE classes.

Edinburgh trip

As part of their social studies curriculum S2 pupils, together with S5/6 Higher History students, visited the Scottish Parliament and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. At the parliament they were met by Amanda Gordon, parliamentary assistant to SMP Adam Ingram, and she led the group on a tour of the parliament building. MSP Ingram took time out from his committee to meet with the pupils.  At the Palace pupils undertook a workshop on Mary Queen of Scots. They all found the day very interesting and enjoyable and would like to thank MSP Ingram and Amanda for the visit to the parliament and the palace staff for the workshop.

Routes for all workshop

S6 pupils took part in the FOCUS West ‘Routes for all’ workshops. The activities are designed to be challenging but fun and they provide pupils with important skills for education and employment. Lecturers and university students from the University of Strathclyde also gave information; advice and guidance on practical issues relating to further and higher education. The pupils really enjoyed their day and found it very interesting and informative.

Burns Competition

S1/2 pupils are busy learning their Burns poems for the Burns Verse Speaking Competition. The Grand Final will take place in the school on Wednesday 7^th December. Good Luck to everyone taking part. 

Young Sports Ambassadors

Congratulations to Nathan Gilmore and Dillan Dunn who have been selected as Doon Academy’s representatives for the East Ayrshire Young Ambassadors. They join our other ambassadors Stacey Chalmers and Melissa Carroll. The ambassadors will be supported by Active Schools and they will create a plan to promote the 4 key themes in the school and local community. The ambassadors’ first event was a football tournament which they organised for S1 pupils. This was a tremendous success and the pupils are looking forward to many more planned activities.

Young Musician CD

 The vocal group and pupils who competed in the school’s Musician of the Year competition have recently visited Pulse recording studios in Cumnock to record their performances for inclusion on a double CD. There will be a further visit to the studio in order to mix and add the finishing touches before the CD is released to the public. The stars in the making described their visit to the studio as an amazing and unforgettable experience. The CD will be released at the end of November. Good Luck to everyone involved and thanks to Mrs Rae, PT of Music, and Pulse recording studio.

Calum's Road trip

Mrs Wood is taking Asdan students to the Palace Theatre in Kilmarnock to see a performance of Calum’s Road.

Business seminar

As part of the school’s enterprise project 10 senior pupils will be attending a business seminar on the 10^th November at St. Joseph’s Academy. The pupils will take part in workshops led by Sir Tom Hunter where they will learn valuable business skills.

Shop name

During mentoring all pupils were asked to vote for their favourite name for the new school shop in the village and the winning name is The Miner’s Lamp. The Art department has now begun work with graphic designer Allan McKeown to produce a logo design. The shop will sell products made by the pupils of Doon Academy and local artists.

Shoebox Appeal

The Christmas shoebox appeal is still ongoing and we are still seeking donations of goodies for the boxes to send to needy children in the Ukraine.